Benjamin Stewart may be a Summerlin Academy student, but when it comes to all of the classes and extracurricular activities he participates in, he'd rather be known as a Yellow Jacket.

By MERISSA GREENTHE LEDGER

BARTOW | Benjamin Stewart may be a Summerlin Academy student, but when it comes to all of the classes and extracurricular activities he participates in, he'd rather be known as a Yellow Jacket.

Stewart attends school in an environment where three administrations, three faculties and three student populations coexist: Bartow High School, Summerlin Academy and the International Baccalaureate program.

Talk to anyone from any of the groups and he or she will agree the relationship they have is symbiotic.

"Everyone knows there's no separation," said Stewart, 18. "I would rather showcase that we are all together. The best part is people can't tell."

However, the relationship between Lakeland High School and Harrison Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, which share a campus, has been strained for the past two years.

Unlike the Bartow schools, where all three have been recognized as one since the beginning of their coexistence, Lakeland and Harrison started out as two separate schools. However, because of changes at the state level, the two have been considered one school in recent years by the Department of Education.

Friction exists because the two schools operate so differently.

Harrison has been adjacent to Lakeland High's campus since 1989. It was considered a separate school until six years ago when the state took away its school identification number because it did not offer academic classes.

The three Bartow schools are under the same identification number.

Because Harrison auditions students to attend there, its students have exclusive access to the arts classes offered on its campus. However, Harrison students participate in general academic classes and extracurricular activities at Lakeland.

It's a different situation at Bartow High because students from all three schools can participate in some of the classes unique to each of the programs. For example, Summerlin, which started about six years ago, offers martial arts and languages classes in Japanese, which anyone can take.

All three student populations eat together, planning sessions are schoolwide, and administrators attend ceremonies unique to each school. All administrators share lunch duty and responsibilities at sporting events.

On numerous occasions, School Board Chairwoman Hazel Sellers has questioned why Lakeland and Harrison can't work together like the students and administrators at Bartow.

"Everything they want to do is to enhance the opportunities for their students," Sellers said. "There's just a sense of pride that I see. They (administrators) are very deliberate that when they come out of a meeting, they are going to be unified."

Harrison supporters say the school has been endangered since the state revoked its master school identification number in 2006, making it dependent on Lakeland High. The issue became more urgent when Lakeland High began the process to become a conversion charter school and the plans included Harrison.

Harrison supporters pursued a start-up charter option after receiving what they called a lack of support from the School District to be recognized by the state as an independent school.

Lakeland High's plans to become a charter were put on hold in May amid questions about the voting process.

In attempts to resolve issues between Lakeland and Harrison, an operational agreement was created and outlined how the two should work together. That included having the same prom, lunch and more joint meetings between faculty and administrators. The social aspects of the agreement caused an uproar among students and parents and caused district officials to hold off on some of the terms of the agreement.

School Board members recently gave interim Superintendent of Schools John Stewart, who took the top leadership position last month, a list of its top priorities and among them was resolving the Lakeland High/Harrison issue.

Stewart said he held meetings with administrators from both sides and the discussion went well. The next step is team-building sessions so that both sides, including parents, will know how to effectively communicate with one another.

"I just have real positive vibes from both sides of that issue," he said.

DOING WHAT'S BEST FOR STUDENTS

Bartow High, which historically has been known as Summerlin Institute, has existed since 1887. In 1995, the IB program was added and in the fall of 2005, it added Summerlin Academy.

Everything at Bartow High is done in unison with the other two schools, according to Bartow High Principal Ron Pritchard.

While the three administrators may not agree 100 percent of the time, Pritchard said a solution is always reached.

"We always try to do what's best for kids," he said.

Ed Vetter, principal of the IB program, agrees.

"Whether it's sports, academics or clubs, it's all under the umbrella of Bartow High School and success is our main focus," Vetter said.

"Our administrators are on duty together no matter what the activity is."

With that type of attitude, students understand "the total power of working together," Vetter said.

Benjamin Braaten said he likes that everyone communicates.

"When you get an email, it doesn't go to one or another, the whole staff sees it," said Braaten, a Summerlin science teacher and Bartow High's athletic director.

The administrators are also supportive of all of the faculty, said Kozy Hubbard, lead instructor for Bartow High Medical and Fire Academy.

"We have administrators who don't have egos," she said. "In turn, they (students) don't have egos."

Steven Cochran, Summerlin principal, is new to the trinity. He was previously at Ridge Career School and said he was warmly welcomed.

"We have our own identity, but I'm sure what keeps kids coming back is they can have a regular high school experience," he said.

"We (administrators) can get along professionally and we can get along when the last school bell rings."

[ Merissa Green can be reached at merissa.green@theledger.com or 863-802-7547. ]

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